578 " II U S B A 
Vegetable and Earthy Substances with Lime. 
•—The following is a receipt for making manure from 
green vegetable matter, decompofed by quick or frelh 
burnt lime, thus :—A layer of vegetable matter a foot 
thick, then a very thin layer of lime beat fmall, and fo 
on ; firft vegetable and then lime alternately. In a few 
hours the decompofition will begin, and, unlefs prevented 
by fods, or a forkful of vegetables, it will break into a 
blaze, which mud be prevented. In twenty-four hours the 
procel's will be complete. Weeds of every defcription 
will anfwer. Vegetables, with 2.1. worth of lime, will 
produce manure for four acres. Ufe the vegetables as 
foon after cutting as polfible, and the lime as frefh from 
the kiln as the diitance will allow. 
As peat-mofs contains an acid nearly in proportion of 
one-fourth of its weight, its other valuable parts, oil, al¬ 
kaline falts, and vegetable earth, are not only locked up, 
but the whole mafs is prevented from fermenting, by 
which procefs alone it can be rendered ufeful. To bring 
on the defired fermentation, dry the peat-mofs well, break 
it into fmall pieces, and lay it on the ground to the 
thicknefs of three or four inches. Let the whole of the 
dung from the ftables be laid over it. The moifture of 
the dung will fmk down, and not only correct the aci¬ 
dity, but faturate the peat-mofs completely with the va¬ 
luable properties of the dung. Turn the dunghill over, 
and mix the dung and peat-mofs carefully together, 
throwing them up lightly, and a gentle fermentation will 
come on. After a few weeks turn it over again ; adding 
one load of lime to five loads of mofs; the whole being 
■well broken and accurately mixed. The addition of the 
lime will haften the putrefaction of the mol's, diffolve the 
oil contained in it, and give a due degree of activity to 
the whole. 
Another way of effecting this is, to pour the urine of 
cattle, the moilture of the dunghill, foap-leys, and offal 
of the hcufe, upon the peat-mofs; and afterwards to mix 
it with flable-dung and lime. 
A third way of rendering peat-mofs ufeful as a manure, 
is to mix it with pot-afli, kelpj lime, or chalk. In dif- 
tant parts of the country, in the neighbourhood of bogs 
where peat-mofs abounds, and other manures are fcarcely 
to be obtained, it may be highly important to know, 
that eighty or a hundred pounds weight of pot-afh is fuf- 
ficient to faturate a quantity of peat-mofs that will ma¬ 
nure an acre of land ; and that, if it be well dried, a 
much fmaller quantity of pot-afh will fuffice. For this 
purpofe diffolve the pot-afh in boiling water, half a pound 
to a gallon, and fprinkle it over the peat-mofs, broken 
fmall, and laid a foot thick, till it is faturated with the 
ley ; then lay on a frefh ftratum, treating it in the fame 
manner. Leave the heap to itfelf fume weeks, and then 
turn it, adding a quantity of the frefheft and moil aftive 
lime, worked well into the mofs with the lpade; after 
. fume time it fiiould be again turned, and every part of it 
broken as fmall as po/fible. In a month or fix weeks, the 
whole will be ready for ufe. Upon thin gravels or lharp 
aftive foils, fuch as chalk or limeftone, this compoft will 
be highly beneficial, not only as a manure, but alfo for 
thickening the ftaple. 
Mr. John Horridge, of Raikes, near Bolton in the 
Moors, Lancafiiire, received from the Society for the En¬ 
couragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, in 
i8oz, a filver medal for the following communication to 
the fecretary, on the fubjeft of compofts : 
“ Permit me to requeft you to lay before the Society 
for the Encouragement of Arts, &c. the following me¬ 
morial of the improvements and experiments which I 
have made in a quantity of land. 
“ In the firft place, I mull folicit your attention to a 
new and cheap method of planting potatoes, and which 
I never knew to be attempted by any one but myfelf. 
The following is the manner in which I tried the experi¬ 
ment : A quantity of land in my farm wanted draining, 
and I had occafion for a large main-drain for that pur- 
N D R Y. 
pofe ; in the cutting thereof I found a quantity of earth, 
in a folid bed, refembling peat, but of a more folid fub- 
flance than peat generally is. I threw it into heaps, and, 
after the ochery water had left it, mixed it with lime, 
which appeared to me to form with it an excellent ma¬ 
nure. After this, I fallowed a field of a gravelly foil, 
drilled it for potatoes, and put the fame quantity of this 
compoft into the drills as I fhould otherwife have done 
of black dung ; and the produce from eight ftatute-acres 
w'as 864 loads, of thirteen fcore to the load. I then 
ploughed it for wheat, and had a molt excellent crop ; 
fowed it with white clover and grals-feeds, and let it lie 
for grafs; it has been, and is now', one of the belt paf- 
tures in the neighbourhood. The land, before the im¬ 
provement, was worth about il. 10s. an acre ; and, after 
taking two very great crops from it, is now worth about 
3I. per acre. The general opinion of the country was 
againft the ufe of lime in the letting of potatoes ; it has, 
however, anfwered beyond expectation ; and had I been 
under the neceffity of procuring dung for my potatoes, 
inftead of this compoft, it would have coft me fix times 
as much money. 
“ Having made the above experiment with potatoes 
and w'heat, I was inclined to try the fame fort of compoft 
upon grafs-lands. In a little valley between two fmall 
hills in my farm, I found a very large bed of peat, com- 
pofed of decayed vegetable fubltances, which was boggy, 
and in fome places upwards of nine feet in depth. This 
I drained, and drew off the ftagnant water with which it 
was filled ; it appeared to me the whole bed, in confe- 
quence of being laid dry, had fermented ; for, when w r e 
afterwards cut it, we found it converted to very fine 
mould. I caufed it to be trenched to the next ftratum, 
which was marl, and mixed it with lime hot from the 
kiln ; but very foon found that I mult Hack the lime be¬ 
fore mixing, or it would have burnt it to allies, by un¬ 
dergoing a frelh degree of fermentation. The quantity I 
mixed was nine thoufand tons with 1327 horfe-loads of 
lime, w'hich coft me about 160I. and I gave one penny 
per cubic yard for the trenching and mixing. Having 
about thirty acres of gravelly foil, I began in Oftober to 
cover my land with this compoft, which, in a very Ihort 
time, proved advantageous ; for the grafs began to fpring 
as if it had been April, and foon produced a very luxu¬ 
riant pafture of about four acres in extent. This I co¬ 
vered firft, and turned into it eight milch-cows, about 
the 15th of December. They fed thereon till the ift of 
March, and gave me a very great quantity of milk and 
butter; and the butter was rich and yellow, like fpring- 
butter. The cows, while in this pafture, had very little 
hay, and that during the night, of which they would eat 
only a very few pounds. Since I took out my cows, I 
have paftured the land with twenty in-lamb ewes, of the 
large white-faced or Malham breed. They are now paf- 
turing ; and I doubt not but it wmuld feed Iheep very 
fat. I have now covered about twenty-fix acres more, 
which promife to be as luccefsful as the other, and 
amounting to in the whole thirty acres. This, pr.ior to 
the improvements, was worth 21. 10s. per acre, and is now 
worth 4I. per acre. 
“This compoft is, I believe, equal to the belt manure 
I could obtain, and the advantage arifing from peat-com- 
poft with lime, when laid upon gravel, fandy, or clay, 
foils, is almoft invaluable. The quantity of this compoft, 
which I have now' ready prepared, together with what I 
have ufed, amounts to nine thoufand tons, which has 
been raifed fince laft fummer; and the total expence is 
530I. The quantity per acre is one hundred and forty 
tons, which coft me about 81 . per acre. Had it been 
dunged the common way, it would have coft me fixteen 
guineas per acre, and would not have anfwered fo well. 
The remainder of my compoft is upwards of four thou- 
fand tons; I have thirty acres more to cover, the greateft 
quantity of which I intend to plant with potatoes. 'By 
the ftatement above you will fee the annual value of the 
land 
